Door-mat.



H. 'J. OTIS.

DOOR MAT.

APPLlCATlON FILED MAY 18, 1914.

1,139,899. Patented May 18,1915.

if m 611010141113 THE NORRIS FLIERS 00-. FHOTC-LITHOV. WASHINGTON. D. C

HOWARD JENKINS OTIS, 0F DENVER, .-COI.|0RAIl0.

noon-MAT.

To all whom it may concern 'Be it known that I, HOWARD J. OTIS, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Mats; and ,I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters ofreference marked thereon, which form, a part of this specification. I

My invention relates to improvements in door mats, my object being to provide a device of this class which, by virtue of its peculiar structure, shall be most efiicient for the purpose intended. In my improvement, parts of the upper surface of the mat are more elevated than other parts. The higher or more elevated parts of the mat may consist of relatively narrow ribs or ridges suitably spaced, whereby the lower portions are of greater area than the raised portions; or the converse may be true, that is to say, the

depressed or grooved portions may be of less area than the more elevated areas of the mat. In other words, grooves or relatively pressions being spaced bv the greater areas of the upper surface of the mat, which extend anv desired distance above the depressions.

Alternately arranged ridges and depressions may be formed in various ways. For instance, where the mat is formed of mate rial having relatively long fibers or pile extending upwardly, the length of these fibers may be varied during the weaving of the mat, whereby ribs may be formed by the employment of fibers or piles of greater length; or the fibers or pile element may be omitted at suitable intervals across the mat, whereby grooves or relatively narrow depressions are formed.

Instead of making the alternately arranged surface projections and depressions by omitting the fiber or pile element during the weaving, the fabric of the mat may be doubled upon itself to form one or more upwardly projecting ribs and the doubled parts secured either by sewing through the parallel portions at the base, or by securing them Specification of Letters Patent.

I Patented May 18, 1915'.

Application filed May 18, 1914. Serial No. 839,270.

or depressions may be formed by omitting the -fibe-rs or pile element at intervals, whereby spaces above the woven base which are vacant or devoid of fibers or pile, may result, and then filling these spaces with relatively narrow portions of fibered or pile material,

which is substantially the same as the body of the mat, said attached portions being secured in place and being of such thickness or depth that they extend above the larger areas ofthe mats uppersurface.

. Havingbriefly outlined my improved con-' struction, I will proceed to describe the same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which isillustrated an embodiment thereof. i 1 In this drawing,'Figure 1 is a top plan view of one form of my improved mat in which a number of parallel grooves or (16? pressions areformed, the same being spaced by larger and more'elevated areas. Fig. 2 is, a similar viewof a mat, showing both relatively narrow raisedportions or ribs and depressions, the ribs and depressions being suitably arranged and spaced; Fig. 31s a section taken on theline 33, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4+4, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a section showing another form of construction. Fig. 6 is a section illustrating still another form of mat.

The same reference characters illustrate the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate the base or' bottom portion of the mat, and 6 the upwardly projecting fiber or pile portion thereof, the said fibers being relatively long and consisting of parts held in place by the woven base 5.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the mat'is pro-' vided with a series of relatively narrow H grooves or depressions 7', the same being spaced by, more elevated and relatively larger'areas 8,- while similar areas 8 extend beyond the outermost grooves, forming the extremities of the mat. As illustrated in the drawing, the grooves 7 (see Fig. '8),

are formed by omitting the parts which form the relatively long-fibers or piles of the mat. As disclosed in'Fig. 4:, the body of the mat as originally made is provided with the grooves or depressions 7, and afterward filled with relatively narrow members 9 which are of thesame structure as the fibered body portion of the mat andplaced within the grooves or depressions 7, whereby ridges or more elevated but relatively narrow areas are formed to facilitate the cleaning of the shoes.

In the construction shown in Fig. 5, the fiber or pile portion of the mat is composed of a series of projections 10 and depressions 12, the depressions being formed by cutting away the upper portion of the fibers over the larger area of the mat, and leaving the more elevated. portions 10 undisturbed.

Again, in the form of construction shown in Fig. 6, ribs or projections 13 are formed by folding parts of the mat upon itself in such a way as to form said projections, and then securing the rib-forming parts by sewing through the base thereof, as shown at 14, or in any other suitable manner.

In the form of construction shown in Fig. 2, two ribs 9 are illustrated, while between these ribs, grooves 7 are formed. It is evident that the grooves, as well as the ribs, may be advantageously employed for boot or shoe cleaning purposes. As heretofore intimated, when the term rib is employed, it is assumed that the aggregate area of the ribs is less than the area of the intervening portions of the mat; While when the term groove is employed, it will be understood that the aggregate area of the socalled grooved portions is less than the portions of the mat located between and spacing the grooves.

It is evident that practically an infinite variety of forms may be employed in carrying out the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is,

1. A mat composed of pile fabric woven to form ribs and grooves alternately ar ranged, the surfaces of the ribs and grooves being composed of the tops of the pile ma terial.

2. A mat composed of a pile fabric having ribs and grooves alternately arranged, the surfaces of the ribs and grooves being com posed of the tops of the pile fabric.

3. A mat composed of a pile fabric having a self sustained rib formed therein and constituting a part thereof the surface of the said mat below the rib composed of the tops of the pile fabric.

4;. A door mat having a series of parallel ridges on its outer surface, said ridges being spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the width of an ordinary shoe sole, the said ridges having fastenings extending through the two layers forming the same.

In testimony whereof I afix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HOWARD JENKINS OTIS. Witnesses:

MAZE KIRBY, A. EBERT OBRIEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, 1). G. 

